Urbini Petal Review

In February 2014 a new name in the car seat world took us by surprise. Meet the newest addition to the Wal-Mart car seat lineup, the Urbini Petal rear facing only car seat.

Urbini Petal installed

CSFTL Quick Stats

Weight Range: 4-35 lbs

Height Range: up to 32″ or head 1″ from the top of the shell

Shell height: 19.5″

Lowest harness position: 5.5″

Weight (carrier only): 7.8 lbs

Expiration: 6 years

Handle position: Any locked position

Features

Seat belt lock off

2 position adjustable crotch strap measuring 4.5″ and 6.5″

2 position hip harness positions

Adjustable recline foot

Euro belt routing

Infant insert for infants and Preemie pillow insert for infants under 6 lbs

2 harness adjustment loops for smaller and larger infants

Car seat release located on the base rather than car seat

Features

Urbini Petal lock off

Seat Belt lockoff is a nice addition to the base so you don’t have to lock the seat belt as with some other rear facing only installations.

Urbini Petal multiple harness adjustments

Two position adjustable crotch strap (4.5″, 6.5″), two position hip harness positions, and 4 adjustable height positions make the Petal a very diverse seat that will fit a wide array of infants.

Urbini Petal recline foot

Adjustable recline foot allows the seat to be more or less recline depending on the vehicle slope. It only has 2 positions, but the do allow for use of a tightly rolled towel to achieve the correct recline if you are having an issue getting it correct in your vehicle.

Urbini Petal Euro routing

Euro belt routing is allowed on the Urbini Petal. This is a seat belt routing method that several rear facing only seats are incorporating. Euro routing means that instead of the shoulder belt laying against the vehicle seat when installing the seat without the base, the shoulder belt is instead routed behind the seat. This helps with rotation and achieving a tighter installation.

Urbini Petal infant insert & preemie pillow

Infant insert and preemie pillow helps ensure good small infant fit. These can be used while the infant is at the bottom 2 harness positions. The preemie pillow is for infants under 6 lbs.

Urbini Petal harness adjustment loops

Two harness adjustment loops allows the seat to be used with smaller and larger infants. Most higher weight infant seats are now incorporating this feature on their seats so that there is enough harness material for the larger infants, but also little enough for the smallest infants. One difference with the Urbini Petal is that it has velcro on the excess harness so it doesn’t hang off and get in the way. This is a nice addition, but one problem I noticed with it is that with bigger infants the velcro can snag on the back as well as possibly rub their neck.

Urbini Petal car seat release

Car seat release located on the base rather than car seat which allows the seat to be lighter to carry. The only downfall to this is that in order for the seat to attach to the base, there are 2 metal bars on the back of the seat. When threading the harness, the user needs to make sure that the straps are under the metal bars.

Fit to Child

Urbini Petal Jo – Preemie, 4 lbs, 17″

Jo – Preemie Huggable Images doll – 4 lbs, 17 inches I absolutely LOVE the preemie fit in this seat. The crotch buckle was right at her diaper, the hip straps were right at her hips, and her shoulders were right at the bottom harness slot. The infant insert and preemie pillow also helped her fit in the seat perfectly.

Urbini Petal Fiona – Newborn, 7 lbs, 17″

Fiona – Newborn Huggable Images doll – 7 lbs, 17 inches She also had a great fit using the inside hip strap position, inside crotch buckle position, and infant insert. The preemie pillow was taken out since it can only be used to 6 lbs. I also tried her without the infant insert and she fit well without that as well. She would probably still need rolled receiving blankets beside her head for support, but other than that, she fit very well. She was right at the 2nd harness slot with and without the infant insert. The infant insert needs to be removed when moving the harness to slots 3 and 4.

Urbini Petal Anders

Anders He is our long term model and has used the Petal off and on since birth. Here are a few photos of him at different ages in the Petal. Overall his fit has been great. At birth he weighed 9 lbs 2 oz and had already outgrown the infant insert. We used rolled receiving blanket to help with slump until he was big enough for it to not be a problem. The most annoying issue I’ve found lately (6 months) is that the velcro on the harness gets caught up in the slots when I tighten him up. At 6 months he is right at the 2nd to top harness position.

Urbini Petal Freya – 21.5 months, 20 lbs, 32″

Freya – 21.5 months, 20 lbs, 32″ ***Disclaimer – this child has outgrown the seat due to her head being even with the top of the shell, even though she’s right at the stated height limit.***

Considering she is right over the limits of this seat, Freya still fit very well. Her shoulders were right at the top harness height, hip straps were in the outside position, as well as the crotch buckle being in the outside position. She was comfy and happy in it.

Urbini Petal Anders – 13 months, 23 lbs, 30″

UPDATE – Anders – 13 months, 23 lbs, 30″

Anders is at the limit of the Petal with 1″ from the of his head to the top of the shell. He still fits fairly well besides being at the limit. He is at the top harness slot and the larger positions of the hip and crotch straps.

Installation

Expiration: 6 years

Handle position: Any locked position

Installation With the Base

Urbini Petal base installation

The base was a very easy install with lower anchors or seat belt in my 2012 Nissan Quest with leather seats. The belt geometry can sometimes be difficult when installing seats in this vehicle, so I was very pleasantly surprised at how nice the fit was.

Urbini Petal seat belt lock off

The base features a seat belt lock off for easy seat belt install as well as lower anchors. The lock off is easy to use and I didn’t have any issues with the belt folding over or the clip being hard to lock over the belt.

Urbini Petal recline foot

It has a 2 position recline, which may be an issue in some vehicles, but they do allow the use of a tightly rolled towel in case the limited number of reclines is an issue. They have specified that a pool noodle is not allowed and the foot of the base needs to be folded under into the base when using a rolled towel.

Urbini Petal recline level

It also has a 2 position level on the side of the base. If the infant is under 20 lbs, the ball needs to be in the blue area, for 20-35 lbs, it needs to be in the grey. I was able to get it in both sections by just pulling the recline foot out or putting it back under the base.

Installation Without the Base

Urbini Petal baseless install

The Urbini Petal has 2 different install methods for baseless installation. It is following the same trend as many other rear facing only seats and allows Euro routing when installing baseless. What this means is instead of laying the shoulder belt against the vehicle seat back, it is placed in a slot on the back of the infant seat. This slot for Euro routing is NOT a lock off, so the seat belt will still need to be locked when installing with this method. This routing helps get a tighter install in most vehicles.

Pros

Allows Euro routing on baseless installs

Fits small infants and preemies well

Seat is light and easier to carry than some others

Two-position crotch buckle

Two hip harness positions

Cons

Harness material is thin and prone to twisting

Overall Thoughts

This has been one of my favorite rear facing only seats that I’ve used with Anders. He fits well and seems comfortable. It’s also a very lightweight seat so carrying around all 18 lbs of him doesn’t seem like such a hard thing to do. The few drawbacks I’ve found are very minor and consist of mostly harness issues. The harness material is thin and can twist easily, the harness needs to be rethreaded to adjust the hip strap positions making it a bit time consuming, and the velcro can get in the way of tightening as the child gets bigger. Other than those few downfalls, I’m really impressed with the Urbini Petal.

Does this sound like the perfect seat for you? Urbini has been kind enough to offer a giveaway of the Petal rear facing only seat to one of our lucky readers. To enter, follow the Rafflecopter instructions at the end of the review.

Giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Jutta P!

Need one now? Check Walmart.com for order details on the Urbini Petal rear facing only car seat. It can also be found as part of the Urbini travel systems at either your local Wal-Mart store, as well as on Walmart.com.

Urbini generously provided this seat for review, but CSFTL was not compensated for this review, opinions are all our own. Originally written by Angela Tastad. Edits maintained by CSFTL.

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All CSFTL website contributors are Nationally Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians. However, our reviews and educational materials are OUR opinions and are not that of Safe Kids, NHTSA, or anyone other than us. We are not liable for anything anyone says or does as a result of reading our opinions on this site.

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